


Power-cuts and Sparks

by rosacanina6



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-10-24 18:08:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10747032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosacanina6/pseuds/rosacanina6
Summary: Lance had assumed that his evening stuck in the castle with Keith would be highly uneventful.However, space has other plans when a seemingly inexplicable power-cut causes a series of unexpected antics.





	1. Chapter 1

Lance breathed in slowly, his back sinking into the wall by his bed as he listened to his music. He regretted not having more variety, only having the music on his phone from Earth. He exhaled, his shoulders to relaxing as he let the music seep into his ears.

He wondered what the others were doing at that moment, whether they had fixed the aliens ships yet or were focusing on the diplomatic side of the mission. Bitter about being left to 'guard' the castle with Keith, he pursed his lips frustratedly. It wasn't fair, he had wanted to see the frozen planet too- Gaioksia or whatever it was called.

Abruptly, his thoughts were interrupted by the sudden flicker of the lights followed by complete darkness.  
_"Fuck, there go the lights."_ Lance thought irritably to himself as he carefully removed one earbud.  
"WHAT DID YOU DO NOW, MCCLAIN." The shout echoed alongside the thud of his door being forcefully slid open, causing Lance to accidentally rip out his other earbud as he jumped.

"What the- Keith?"  
"I swear to fuck if this is another one of your pranks- " started Keith, exasperated.  
"I've been here minding my own business! Besides, I'm flattered you think I could pull off a prank of this scale." said Lance, causing Keith to let out a pained sigh.  
"Shut up Lance."  
"Rude, but anyways, any idea why the lights went out?" asked Lance, Keith responding with a simple shake of the head. "Well we could try and find out what the issue is and go from there?" suggested Lance.  
Keith blinked, surprised by such a sensible plan coming from Lance. "Well, yeah, I guess that's actually a quite a good idea. We'll need-"  
"No way. Did _you_ just admit _I_ had a good idea." Lance jeered in a singsong voice as he bounced up off the bed, his eyes adjusting to the dark.  
"Ugh, look I was trying to say that-"  
"No no Keith, no sneaking out of this one-"  
“I was _trying_ to say that we will need torches.” shouted Keith at where he guessed Lance stood in the the lightless room. “In case you haven't noticed, it's pitch black you idiot.”  
“Oh. Yeah. We should probably look for some.” said Lance, dejection clear in his voice. 

The pair began fumbling around in the dark, rummaging for anything that could provide light. As he pulled open a draw, the darkness was broken by soft blue light emanating from a small crystal. Lance reached into the draw, cautiously grabbing the intricate Altean lantern. He held it up by the smooth handle, shadows dancing on the walls as the light shone through the lamp's detailed frame.  
"This should do." he said, using the lantern to light up his face as he made a variety of ridiculous expressions.

"Where are we checking first then Captain Mullet?" he said as he mock saluted.  
"Would you stop making fun of my hair or I might actually start to think you like it." scowled Keith as a flustered Lance nearly dropped his lantern, thankful that the partial dark hid his expression. "And _we_ aren't checking anywhere." he continued as he fumbled with an Altean pendant roughly the size of his palm. There was a quiet click as he eventually hit a hidden switch on the back, causing its centre to glow a bright blue much like the castle usually did. "You'll check the left hand side of the castle and I'll take the right." he ordered plainly, placing the necklace over his head so that the long chain came to rest around his neck.  
"Aye aye, Captain." muttered Lance as he watched Keith grab the Bayard next to him and race off out the door.

 "The hotheaded idiot..." mumbled Lance to himself as he stretched his arms and began walking through the open door of his room, closing it behind him. "He didn't even say how we were going to meet back up."

\---

Halting to reestablish his surroundings, Keith lifted the pendent to illuminate the dim room further. He couldn't see any obvious signs of damage so he decided to move on, walking this time in order to catch his breath.

As he entered to corridor, he could have sworn he heard a noise emanating in the distance: a strange scuttling sound. Unsettled, Keith continued to walk down the corridor, cautiously keeping an eye out for anything unusual.

Suddenly, he spotted what seemed to be a partial shadow out of the corner of his eye, followed by more scuttling.  
_"What was that?"_ thought Keith urgently, alarm bells ringing in his head as he set off, sprinting after the noise.

\---

**Clink, clink, clink**

Lance's lantern rattled with each step he took as he held it forward, using it to scan for any signs of the cause of the power outage.

**Clink, scuttle scuttle, clink, clink**

He stopped. _"What on Earth...? Am I hearing things?"_ He glanced over his shoulder, only to see nothing. This reassured him slightly, taking a deep breath before he continued as if nothing had occurred.

**SCCREACKH**

Lance jumped back in horror as a large, scaled, cockroach-like monster leapt down from the ceiling to land in front of him. It had an incomprehensible amount of knife like teeth the size of bricks and six powerful, grotesque legs. Rather than chitin, dark slate grey plated scales coated its body and legs. Its large compound eyes stared towards him as if transfixed.

He hastily retreated in an endeavour to find cover and shakily reached for his Bayard-  
_"FUCK."_ He had left it in his room along with his suit. Thinking on his feet he dodged to the side as one of the creature's legs came crashing down where he had just been, its large black eyes tracking him as if locked on to something. _"Wait... locked on to something... it's following my light!"_ Quickly committing his location to memory he threw the lantern as far as he could, its delicate frame smashing at it hit the wall. As predicted, the creature desperately swung its body around the follow the light like a bewildered moth.

Lance took off as fast as he could without stumbling in the darkness, sprinting as if his life depended on it- well technically it did. He figured he could grab his Bayard then return- wait no, the armoury was closer, he could find some kind of gun to defend himself with there. His mind made up, he sped up and darted away towards the armoury.

**THUD**

Letting out a small yelp, Lance fell to the ground, helplessly looking around at the dark in a futile attempt to figure out what had just occurred.  
"Need a hand" snickered a familiar voice, light returning to fill the void as Keith switched his pendent back on to reveal his out stretched hand. 

Lance sighed, looking down at the ground and blushing as he reached out to take Keith's gloved hand. "So what happened?" asked Keith as he helped pull him back onto his feet. Embarrassed by his failure Lance stuffed his hands into his green coat pockets and hastily mumbled "Some weird lizard-cockroach that was following my light attacked me, I forgot my Bayard so I was going to grab a laser or something."  
"You forgot your Bayard." Keith subtly smirked, his expression hinting at him hiding something.  
"It's not funny! I could have died!" 

Lance's eyes followed Keith's hand as he reached back to his belt and held out an item towards him. His dark blue eyes drifted down to the item. "What the fuck are you doing with my Bayard, Keith?" he said flatly, his eyes wide and surprised. Keith sighed as Lance reached forward and took his Bayard back.  
"Lets just say there may have been a switch up in the dark earlier." he admitted, turning away.

Before Lance could reply they were interrupted by the piercing screech of the creature. Lance activated his Bayard, resting his left hand on the familiar blaster that formed in order to steady it. He began shooting rapidly at the beast's body. Keith rushed in, whipping out his knife and ducking between between the creature’s legs as he slashed at them.  
"Its scales are too tough for my knife." called out Keith. "I need to get to its weak spots but they're too high."  
"Watch out Keith!" shouted Lance as he swiftly shot one of the creatures flailing legs, causing it to flinch out of the way before it crushed a distracted Keith. "I'll try and distract it, climb on top of it and- I don't know, just do your thing!"  
"Got it."

Small fluorescent lasers fired across the hallway as Lance aimed at the beast’s legs and eyes with acute precision, keeping it occupied as Keith nimbly climbed up onto its back. Once he was up, Keith began swiftly hacking and stabbing in between its neck scales with his dagger. As it became weakened, it attempted to throw Keith off. However, this was to no avail as he held onto the creature’s back with furious tenacity and adrenaline.

The lasers stopped as Lance ran for cover, the monster seeking out the source of the burning blue lights.

He was cornered.

Lance frantically searched for an escape route but it was too dim without Keith's light nearby. He closed his eyes and defensively raised his arms, bracing for the worst as the creature descended towards him.

Unexpectedly, Lance was hit by a force from the side as Keith tackled him, pushing him out of harm's way. Ardently pushing himself through the shock, he was able to quickly deliver a final shot to the spot on the monster’s neck Keith had weakened, finishing off the monster.

"Thanks." said Lance truthfully, still shaking a little as he looked up at Keith's worried expression.  
"Are you hurt?" interrogated Keith as he held Lance, scanning him for any signs of injury.  
"Don't worry I'm fine thanks to you." said Lance "Besides, what’s up with you cradling me in your arms constantly? If you keep it up I might actually start to think you like it." he baited, a sickeningly smug smile stretched across his face.  
"So you DO admit our bonding moment happened! Also what are you talking about." stuttered Keith as he dropped Lance and stood up, dusting off his hands.  
"Rude!" yelled Lance from the floor. "Also what are you talking about- I don't recall any 'bonding moments'." he said, emphasising his words as he made exaggerated air quotes.

There was a brief silence before Lance burst out laughing, soon followed by Keith, their genuine laughs echoed throughout the castle.

"Where did that thing even come from anyway?" asked Lance, picking himself up off the floor clumsily.  
"I don't know but I think we can find out." replied Keith, his dark eyes scanning the hall and eventually coming to rest on something. Curious by what he meant, Lance pulled his glance away from Keith's eyes to the patch of floor he was staring at. A seemingly out of place trail of glittering scales littered the hall "We can just follow this trail and figure how that thing got in here." Lance nodded in agreement, and fell into step behind Keith, keeping within the amulets light as they followed the trail.

As he paced behind Keith, he soon got bored of staring at the endless number of scales and instead found himself looking at Keith.  
_"For someone who lives in a desert and washes his hair with I don't know- probably dish soap, he does know how to put a half decent outfit together."_ reflected Lance to himself. For as much as he hated to admit it, his jacket really did suit him.  
"We're like Hansel and Gretel up in here. But with sparkly scales. And less witches." blurted out Lance, forcefully cutting short his chain of thoughts.  
"What?" Keith turned to face Lance, his his eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement.  
"You know, Hansel and Gretel, the story- the two kids following a trail of breadcrumbs back home."  
"Right..." said Keith, one eyebrow raised. "That aside, it looks like we've found something." 

They appeared to be in one of the castles complex system of power maintenance rooms. Upon further inspection Lance noticed the large jagged hole that appeared to have been violently torn through the floor.  
"There's the cause of our power cut." noted Keith, motioning towards the crooked end of a giant power cable sputtering sparks. It appeared to be coming from the direction of the main generator room, if Lance recalled correctly.  
"We'll be needing Hunk and Pidge for this won't we?" said Lance rhetorically, the answer clearly visible with one look at the carnage that had befallen the floor and power cable.  
"In that case, we might as well just wait for them to get back from the mission." said Keith, Lance's agreement obvious via the lack of retaliation. 

Walking over to inspect the wire, Lance leaned forward to get a closer look. The hefty power cable was coated in an opaque black lining, a jumble of vivid blue and bronze wires visible where it had been torn. The latter wires fizzed with electricity, every now and again flicking and twitching as if alive. The blue wires on the other hand let out a serene hum, the noise constant and soft, yet its raw power could be clearly felt resonating within the sound that the wire emitted.

Having seen enough alien technology for one day, Lance quickly rose and stretched his legs. As he laxly swivelled around on his heel, his foot grated on some rubble amidst the shadows - uprooting his balance and sending him falling backwards into the abyss.

\---

Lance breathed shakily, the fiery adrenaline felt pounding through his veins and the cold air sharp on his face. He felt a familiar hand gripped around his wrist like a vice: the only thing keeping him from falling. Eyes wide and startled, his vision flicked upwards to meet Keith's. Gritting his teeth, Keith grunted as he pulled him back up to safety. As he his feet returned to solid ground he slumped down, the sensation of nauseating weightlessness still with him.

"Be careful you idiot. You do realise there’s a giant fucking hole in the floor." said Keith, his mocking words undermined by the concerned tone he used. Pulling himself back from the shock Lance looked towards Keith.  
"Thanks for catching me, really." said Lance gratefully, albeit barely audible. "Also, do you reckon it came from down there?" he added in a clearer voice.  
"Definitely." replied Keith. “I'll go down there. You'll wait up here and help me up when I get back. Ok? Lance?” receiving no response, he looked over towards Lance - only to see that he was already waiting for him at the edge.  
"Hurry up slow coach." he grinned smugly as he began his descent into the pit.  
"You don't even have a light!" yelled Keith as he scurried over to the edge where Lance was climbing.  
"Exactly, so hurry up."  
Realising that even attempting to make Lance stay was impossible, Keith gave in, rolling his eyes and beginning the climb down the rubble. 

There was a soft thud as Lance jumped drown from the climb, his feet hitting the floor as he landed. As Keith joined him, the light from the amulet brightened the room with shades of teal and aqua as it danced from the impact.

Like a bloodhound on the hunt, Keith promptly resumed following the path of scales. Lagging behind, Lance took the opportunity to soak in their surroundings. The large room they were in was stacked with an assortment of items, diverse and coated in a fine sheet of dust, the light bouncing and refracting off them in curious ways.

Unable to comprehend the sheer magnitude of items, Lance let his eyes simply wander to whatever caught their attention. He breathed in the frigid musty air, overwhelmed and fascinated by the artefacts that were strewn about on every space and surface possible. There were fine vases and crumbling books; a plethora of chairs and stunning works of art; crates of incongruous materials and sacks of spare parts. Worn jars of mysterious potions adorned a shelf, their contents shimmering like liquid pearls of every shade. He noted a quaint spirit level, that glowed as if possessed. To his left he spied a collection of intricately decorated sand timers of every size, filled with peculiar substances alien to him (both figuratively and literally, he noted).

"Where _are_ we?" said Lance as he peered at his warped reflection in the glass of one of the sand timers, the dark liquid inside it still flowing even after all the years it had been left there.  
"A storage room maybe?" proposed Keith, his gaze still fixated on the trail.  
"Yeah..." agreed Lance, trailing off as a glimmering pile of radiant gemstones and jewellery enticed him. Atop the heap sat an old diadem, its origins undoubtedly Altean in nature. Captivated by its soft gleam and graceful craftsmanship, Lance slowly reached out to pluck it from its resting place.  
"Lance, no touching." impeded Keith, having not even removed his eyes from the trail. "We don't know what these things are. They could be dangerous."  
Pouting, Lance snatched the headdress and skipped towards Keith. 

"What-" blurted out Keith, startled as the blue and silver diadem was forced onto his head.  
"What did you say, _Princess Mullet_ " he smirked, emphasising his words as he curtsied. Keith scowled, his face flushed as he bitterly removed the diadem and placed it unceremoniously back on the pile. 

"Hey, over here." called Lance, gesturing to the point where the path of dark scales stopped. He picked up a shard of crystalline pottery, examining it in his hands as Keith looked around for clues as to the monsters origin.

A few moments later Keith rushed back to Lance, snatching the pottery away from him.  
"Woah, what the fuck Keith. You could have just asked for it." commented a miffed Lance. However, Keith ignored him in favour of inspecting the ceramic. Suddenly thrusting it back at Lance, he skittered off again and began moving crates aside. 

"Here we go!" exclaimed Keith as he found what he was looking for. "That’s not pottery Lance, it’s a shell."  
Intrigued, Lance walked over to where Keith stood. A giant solitary cracked egg of the same crystalline material as the piece he held sat before them in all its glory.  
"What the quiznak is this doing here? Alien eggs on spaceships never ends well." said Lance, dropping the broken piece of eggshell he held as he gestured theatrically with his arms.  
"I have no clue." responded Keith, equally bewildered. "There doesn't appear to be anymore though so we should be safe for now."  
Lance let out a relieved sigh at the news, turning to follow Keith as he led the way out of the storage room. 

\---

Sitting by the edge of the pit, Lance looked over at Keith. He was perched on the edge of the chasm, staring into it as he swung his legs to and fro in boredom. Equally bored, Lance yawned and stretched his arms out. The others wouldn't be back for a while yet so they would just need to find something to pass the time.

"Want to get some space goo?" suggested Lance.  
"Nah." said Keith, his dark hair complimenting his features as he twisted to face Lance.  
"Me neither. Any ideas?"  
"I wouldn't mind sparring- shit the powers down." said Keith in bitter realisation, it was the reason his sparring session with the gladiator program had shut down earlier.  
"Well I was thinking of doing my beauty routine." mentioned Lance. "Feel like joining me?"  
"Fuck no." said Keith flatly. Not that Lance had expected any other response.  
"But it’s good for your skin!"  
An idea struck Keith, "How about you spar with me, since the gladiator's down?"  
"Hell no, I'd rather relax and do my facial." snorted Lance as he stretched out his legs on the floor nonchalantly.  
"Why don't you do something productive instead! The galaxy isn't going to defend itself." snapped Keith.  
"It IS productive!" retorted Lance "This masterpiece of a face isn't going to exfoliate itself. You go practice swinging your sword or something and I'll do my own thing."  
"I can't spar on my own you idiot! Besides, we only have one light." he said as he sharply pointed towards the amulet around his neck. Lance pondered on Keith's point for a second, the light situation was indeed an issue.  
"Ugh ok. I'll spar with you... but," he grinned menacingly "you have to do a facial routine with me."  
"No." said Keith monotonously.  
"Aw what a shame Kogane. It looks like no sparring for you then. Have fun doing nothing." 

Keith pursed his lips as if considering his options before rashly making a decision.  
"Ok deal. But we have to spar first. No ifs, no buts."  
"Well duh, you never do exercise right after a facial if you can avoid it." Lance said gleefully, Keith wilfully agreeing was something he had never anticipated actually happening. 

This was going to be fun.


	2. Chapter 2

Their footsteps echoed throughout the castle as the two paladins made their way to the training deck, the necklace strung around Keith's neck illuminating the tall imposing corridor. Before setting off they had attempted to retrieve their suits, although their efforts proved fruitless, rendering the ancient paladin armours securely locked in their respective cases. Keith had put the incident down to the power cut, and Lance had begrudgingly agreed with his logic.

_ "Oh well, I guess we can improvise." _ thought Lance as they entered into the armoury, the cold air crisp like knives on his skin. The room was stacked from floor to ceiling with an assortment of curious and lethal looking Altean weapons of every obscure description. To the alternate side of the room various pieces of armour, ranging from minimal in build and style to absurdly bulky, covered the wall and racks strewn about the large chamber.

"Hey, we could use these." suggested Lance, pointing towards some dusty Altean armoured vests leant up against a stand. To the right of them lay multiple sets of padded bracers, shin pads and simple helmets.  
"Is that all?" said Keith. "I knew Alteans were hardcore and all but isn't this protection a bit scarce?" Lance didn't seem to hear him or care for that matter, as he was already slipping on the white and blue armoured vest over his shirt. Keith threw his jacket over a rack alongside Lance's olive coat and grabbed a set of the armour pieces. Following suit, he began pulling on the armour, astonished by how well crafted it must be in order to still be viable after the 10,000 years that had passed.

After fully equipping everything and heading through to the arena, the pair activated their Bayards. Lance began fumbling with his, turning the small gun over in his hands as if looking for something. "Found it." Lance mumbled to himself as he activated the setting on his Bayard, causing it to hum as it changed to glow a lighter hue of azure. "There should be a switch hidden under a latch on your Bayard, Keith. Allura told me about it the other day- it's a safety mode for training.” he explained.  
Keith quickly figured it out, his sword altering as it's sharp edges were smothered by a blunt glass blue guard.

"You ready to get destroyed by my sharpshooting skills, mullet?" boasted Lance, cockily shooting at the red paladin charging towards him like an enraged bull. Suddenly, Lance was cut off by an acute pain in his leg as Keith kicked him, sweeping him off his feet. Next thing he knew his back hit the ground with a muted thud.

"You were saying?" teased Keith playfully as he prepared to swing his sword at Lance. But before he could swing his blade fully, he was the one cast to the floor as his chest was hit by the blunt force of one of Lance's lasers (fortunately dulled due to the aforementioned 'safety mode'). Lance took the opportunity to rise to his feet again, although his advantage ended as Keith recovered swiftly. The black haired boy lunged towards him, sword in hand and his eyes fierce. Lacking the agility to dodge fast enough, Lance felt the shooting pain arising in his side as the blade came into contact with him. On the ground once more, he looked up to meet Keith's wildly passionate eyes, consumed by adrenaline as he held his sword to Lance's neck before the latter could even contemplate retaliation.

"No fair!" whined Lance, causing Keith to smirk victoriously. "You kicked me!"  
"So what?"  
"So what- That's cheating!" said Lance, promoting Keith to roll his eyes.  
"All's fair in a fight. Besides, you're a terrible fighter at short range, you could do to learn a thing or two."  
"There's no need to be so rude about it. I'm a great fighter."  
Keith sighed as Lance got up onto his feet, his bravado present in his movements.  
"Ugh look, if you stop whining for five ticks I'll show you some  _ actual  _ technique." said Keith, doubting that Lance would actually take him up on the offer.  
"...sure." said Lance somewhat skeptically after brief consideration. Keith blinked in shock at Lance's serious undertone and moved to take his Bayard and placed it with his own to the side.

"Right, get into a basic stance then." said Keith, watching as Lance moved into a shoddy stance.  
"His technique is all wrong. Fuck he's even standing like he's left handed, the idiot. This is going to take forever to get right." critiqued Keith, mumbling under his breath.  
"What was that, mullet?" said Lance, unaware of Keith's words.  
"Ok, firstly, switch your feet so your left foot is forward."  
"But I'm right handed."  
"Yeah, exactly, bird brain."  
Lance complied, switching his feet as he was told.  
"Now what? And when do I get to kick your ass?"  
"Bend your knees, keep your fists up, elbows in and I'd estimate in around 5 decades at your rate."  
"I think you mean 5 decathebes?" quipped Lance as he reshuffled his stance.  
“Decathebes are longer than Earth decades so for once you're right. Also I said elbows in and arms up."  
"My elbows ARE in thank you very much."  
"No they're not."  
"Yes they are!"  
Keith huffed, frustrated. He stepped over to Lance and rested his hands on Lance's wrists, carefully moving Lance's arms into the correct position.  
"For the last fucking time like this, not like that." Keith barked, using his anger to mask his embarrassment at such close proximity. He moved away as quickly as he'd moved in, turning his head to the side as he felt the warmth rush to his cheeks.

"Right, now that’s sorted, kick me."  
"What?" said Lance, caught off guard by the sentence.  
"Kick me."  
"Ok ok, I was just making sure you actually said that. It always sounds like you’re saying kick me when you speak." teased Lance, a fitting smile spread across his lips.   
"Oh for fucks sake just kick me Lance- OOF." Keith reeled over, grabbing his shoulder as pain coursed through it. "At least wait until I'm done speaking you ass!"  
Lance snickered, "Sorry are my kicks too badass for you, pretty boy?"

Keith froze, blushing furiously.

"No, you just caught me off guard- your kicks are even worse in person than when piloting Voltron- and that's saying something." rambled Keith, desperately trying to brush off Lance's choice of words as a mere insult in an attempt to quell his abashed state.  
"But you reeled in pain! Kicks are like, my thing!"  
"That was because you caught me off guard!" yelled Keith.  
"What the fuck was wrong with my totally perfect kick?" said Lance, causing Keith to pause for a second in thought.    


In fairness he had to admit it was a decent kick, albeit not perfect by any standards. He began the thought process of analysing Lance's technique, critiquing and evaluating every aspect of his form.  He spent a few seconds on this train of thought, eventually settling on the flawlessly eloquent words he felt described his answer to Lance's question impeccably:  
"It was shit."

"No, seriously.  _ Enlighten me _ , what was wrong with my kick?" said Lance, his voice serious despite his sarcastic emphasis on the words.  
"Well to start with, you were aiming at completely the wrong place and you kicked with your foot!'  
"Of course I kick with my foot that’s what a kick is!" retorted Lance, taken aback by Keith's rationale.  
"No, it's better to kick with your shin and aim for either the head, the side or the leg- although avoid the shin as that'll hurt you more than me."

Lance considered his words for a second.

"How on Earth am I meant to kick your head?"  
"It can be tricky at first to keep your balance and you must also be flexible and quick enough. You've easily got the flexible part down and you have just enough speed to pull it off." instructed Keith thoughtfully.  
"What about my balance?" asked Lance cautiously.  
"That comes with practice. I'm sure you'll be fine though." said Keith. 

"Wait wait wait." said Keith abruptly, his eyes widening as the contents of their conversation finally hit him. "Why the hell are you going to kick my head! Why not my leg or somewhere else less painful."  
"Because its the hardest to hit- and it seems like fun." grinned Lance as he got into position. "Can't you take it Keith?"  
"Whatever, just don't kick too hard or I can't promise I won't kick you back." threatened Keith, trying not to let on how much Lance's tease had riled up his competitive nature. Taking in a deep breath, he tightened his helmet, bracing for the impact.

**THUD**

"I thought I said not too hard!" yelled Keith as he pulled off his helmet, rubbing his jaw in pain.  
"Shit. Sorry, are you ok?" said Lance, genuine concern seeping into his voice as he rushed over to check on him.  
"Yeah, don't worry I'm fine." muttered Keith, his shadow dancing as the glowing amulet swung from the impact. Lance reached over, his soft hand gently brushing Keith's cheek, a worried look across his face.  
"If it helps, it doesn't look like it's going to bruise." said Lance as he inspected Keith's face.  
_ "Shit. Why am I so close. Just stay calm." _ thought Lance as blood rushed to his face, desperately hoping that Keith didn't notice.

"Well it was a good kick, I'll give you that." said Keith, backing away and pulling on his helmet. "Right, round two? No weapons this time though, you really need to practice your hand to hand combat."  
"Sure." said Lance as he got into position, adjusting his stance according to Keith's advice.

Keith charged in towards Lance, delivering a swift kick to Lance's left leg before jabbing with his left fist. The taller boy visibly recoiled, but stood strong, retaliating with a quick punch before retreating into the darkness.

Keith barely had a chance to realise what was going on before his side was met by a hard kick. Lance smirked, proud of his own tactical use of the fact that the only light source in the room was physically attached to Keith.

"How'd you like THAT Keith!" boasted Lance as Keith whipped around to face him. Before he was able to gloat anymore, he felt a pair of hands latch around his arm as Keith processed to flip him over, a thud echoing as his back slammed against the ground.   
"Round three, loser?" suggested Keith smugly as he pinned a defeated and flushed Lance down.  
"I'm going to kick your ass next round. You just wait!" said Lance bitterly, sitting up as Keith released him.  
"Bring it McClain."

After what seemed like 100 rounds but was probably closer to 60, the exhausted duo made their way back to Lance's room.  
"-you're going to love it, trust me. There's nothing like a good facial after training or a rough fight. Fortunately for you, I'm pretty certain that you have the same skin type as me so we can just do the same routine, which will make everything easier. Although I'd usually use steam but like the powers down so we'll have to skip that.-" Lance babbled on excitedly, waving his hands around in various descriptive and interpretive motions.

Keith subtly smiled to himself, cherishing the moment and Lance's cute rambling as he continued to talk on enthusiastically.

\---

"Ok, so first we're gonna need to cleanse." said Lance, as he held up a small blue Altean bottle and some 'cotton' pads for Keith to inspect. The material felt, looked and functioned like cotton but had a blue undertone to it and was probably derived from some crazy space plant, figured Lance. Not that he minded- in fact, compared to his old Earth ones, he preferred most of the Altean products resting in the pile between them. "Just wipe your face down with this to get all the dirt off." he further explained, placing the bottle down on the floor as he leaned towards the mirror and began cleansing his face.

Keith began copying, his reluctance clearly seen in his movements.  
"Do I have to do this."  
"You made a deal Keith, it's not my problem if you didn't think it through." said Lance, getting up and making his way to the ensuite. Keith groaned as if pained by the very idea of actually taking care of his skin, then slowly stood up and following Lance to the sink. He caught the towel thrown to him and began rinsing his face before drying it, trying his very best to not complain.

"Speaking of not thinking things through," Lance said as he leant forward and gently pushed Keith's fringe back, carefully clipping it in place with a grip. "There." he finished, leaning back to look at his handiwork. Keith scowled, not that dissimilar to a cat after you rub its belly uninvited, grabbing the grip and readjusting it to his taste.  
"What the fuck Lance."  
"You don't want to get this shit in your hair, trust me"  
"Shouldn't I have clipped it back at the start then." pointed out Keith.  
"Well yeah, hindsight's a wonderful thing." replied Lance as he made his way back into the bedroom, Keith in tow as he sat himself down on the pile of pillows dumped on the floor in front of the mirror.

Emptying some of the contents of a new cylindrical bottle onto his hand before passing it to Keith, Lance began to rub it into his skin.  
"Ok, just rub your face with the exfoliator. Simple stuff Keith, it shouldn't be too hard even for you."  
"What the hell is an exfoliator." said Keith, much to Lance’s horror and disgust.  
"This is an exfoliating scrub from space that  _ exfoliates _ , believe it or not." said Lance sarcastically, noticing Keith's confused expression and further adding, "It removes the layer of dead skin cells on your face and basically makes your skin soft as fuck."  
"That sounds gross and weird."  
"Shut up and exfoliate already, Keith."

After they had exfoliated and Lance had finally gotten tired of using any excuse to say the word, Lance set about preparing the face mask melodramatically as if he were a witch creating a mysterious potion.  
"Why are you like this."  
"You love me really." said Lance, dramatically winking as he finished stirring the purple face mask.  
"Ew, no." said Keith half jokingly, causing Lance to strike a pose of pretend hurt.

"Right just slap this on your face and then the waiting game begins."  
Keith was hesitant at first but soon complied after checking the mixture was safe, applying the face mask haphazardly in an attempt to quickly get it done and over with.  
"Wait, wait no what are you doing." said Lance urgently, grabbing Keith's wrists to stop him. "Don't put it that near your eyes you idiot!" he said, grabbing a tissue and carefully wiping the face mask away where it was too close to Keith's eyes. Lance then began to apply the face mask for him, making sure to avoid Keith's eyes and mouth.  
"I can do this myself-"  
"Shh." Lance interjected as he focused on cautiously applying the mixture to Keith's face, "Don't speak too much or you'll jog me. Also evidently you can't do it without blinding yourself, so consider this a favour." A favour, that's all it was, it wasn't like Lance wanted to do this or anything. It's just that Shiro would give him hell if Keith somehow blinded himself. Because he was totally going to go blind- if he did it himself that was.

_ "What are you even thinking Lance just get back to it already." _ he scolded himself, continuing to meticulously apply the face mask.  
_ "How the fuck are his cheeks so soft. I don't think he's ever seen moisturiser in his life- he lived in a desert for fucks sake!! How is this fair?"  
_ Realising he may have lingered applying the mixture to Keith's cheeks for a little too long, a flustered Lance quickly moved on. Unbeknownst to Lance, Keith was equally flustered, his red cheeks hidden by the face mask covering them.

"Can I take it off yet." said Keith, his voice monotone.  
"No- for the last time be patient."  
"You're sounding like Shiro now."  
"I'm not- Oi, no touching!" Lance said as he swatted Keith's hand away from his setting face mask.  
"I have better things to do than wait doing nothing like this Lance. Besides it's freezing here, can't we at least move around or something." griped Keith.  
"What better things? We're locked in an alien ship in the middle of space with no power you moron. Also no exercise- we're meant to be relaxing."  
"Ugh fine. I can't believe I'm stuck here with you because  _ someone _ broke their light source." said Keith, slowly standing up and stretching his legs, unaware of Lance secretly admiring their toned form. He scooped up some pillows and a large blanket off of the bed, beckoning Lance over to join him as he sat down there.

Bringing the moisturiser with him, Lance plonked himself down next to Keith and allowed him to cast the blanket over their shoulders before settling down.   
"What. It's cold." said Keith defensively, as if to justify his actions despite no complaint having arisen. "Also which episode."   
"What?"   
"The X-files, I'm putting it on. Which episode?" repeated Keith as Lance watched him carefully tinker with the glowing controls of the Blue Paladin's designated Altean laptop. They were constantly discovering new meticulously hidden features and devices amongst the castle's intricate architecture. Pidge had been beyond ecstatic when she discovered that their Paladin rooms included alien laptops. 'ALIEN MCFUCKING LAPTOPS LANCE. MY LIFE IS COMPLETE, PLEASE BURY ME WITH THESE BEAUTIES.' had been her choice of words if he recalled correctly.   
  
Keith continued to fiddle with the controls and quickly tapped away on the white and blue keyboard. Not that the laptop had a keyboard as such, for it technically  _ was _ just a keyboard. Fortunately, Pidge had the foresight to have installed a software patch on all five laptops. The code altering the lights behind each individual key to display the more familiar letters of the qwerty keyboard rather than the abstract Altean runes. (This method had left redundant keys, though this was much to Pidge's delight due to all the coding potential.)    


The projector attached to the top of the keyboard began to hum as the beams of a translucent red holographic screen flickered and appeared in front of them, its red colour owed to Keith's quintessence. On it was an oddly familiar display containing a full list of X-files episodes.   
"Pidge downloaded the entire series onto her laptop years ago, probably illegally. Then uploaded it to the castle's main memory and our Paladin laptops the other spicolian movement to ‘ _ preserve it’ _ or something." explained Keith nonchalantly.  
"Right... also I don't know. You choose an episode."  
"Have you never seen The X-files? Like, at all?" exclaimed Keith.  
"Erm no?" said Lance quietly.  
"Holy mother of fuck, ok first episode it is then- Pidge and I'll have you a convert by the end of the week." said Keith as he selected the first episode and let it begin to play.

"One dobash, pause it." said Lance as his readjusted his position to be sat more upright.  
"What is it now?" scowled Keith, eager to resume the episode.  
"The best part of face masks. That part where you get to pretend you're that old lady all the dermatologists hate." grinned Lance as he began peeling off his own face mask, Keith doing the same, eager to be free of the lilac film.  
"Thank fuck that's over." Keith sighed with relief.  
"Hold up, there's one more step." said Lance as he grabbed the moisturiser from the side.  
Keith rolled his eyes "Really."  
"It's the most important step!" insisted Lance, thrusting the green and black bottle towards Keith. Keith watched intently as Lance ardently applied it before faithfully doing the same himself, making sure to avoid his eyes this time.

Placing the bottle on the side, Lance relaxed back into the comfort of the soft blanket as Keith cast the hair grip to the side and switched off the amulet, ceasing its glow in order to create a cinema like atmosphere. He'd never confess it to Keith's face, but he was actually quite enjoying the episode so far. Lance shivered from the cold, wrapping the blanket closer and subtly snuggling in to steal Keith's warmth.

As he lay there, the soft audio of the episode resonating in the background, Lance glanced over to Keith. A tiny but genuine smile hung on the boy's lips, his face framed by his dark black hair.

_ "Shit.”  
_ _ “He's pretty." _

Lance blushed furiously, turning to the side and attempting to hide himself with the blanket but to no avail. He had known for a while now, but had only just now in this moment come to terms with the fact. He  _ liked  _ Keith. He liked his stupid hair, his stupid face, his stupid personality, his stupid everything. 

Keith didn't seem to notice anything, his gaze focused on the large screen.  
"Hey Keith." yawned Lance, trying to maintain his composure.  
"Yeah."  
"You're not that bad. Sparring was actually pretty fun." he ungracefully blurted out, the crimson of his face shrouded by the dark.  
In surprise, Keith allowed the small soft smile to return. "Never thought I'd hear you say you enjoyed sparring. You're not too bad either. In fact I hate to admit it but the whole facial thing wasn't as horrible as I imagined it to be."  
"Ooo being honest now are we?" badgered Lance, finding comfort in the familiar facade of confidence. "Would you do it again?"  
"Mmm, no. Ok maybe. Only if you sparred with me again."  
"One day I'm going to kick your ass and then you'll be sorry." muttered Lance sleepily.  
"In your dreams McClain."  
Lance softly laughed, tiredness overcoming him as his adrenaline faded and he fought to keep his eyes open. As he faded into the soft folds of sleep, he felt a hesitant but gentle arm move to rest around his shoulders.


	3. Chapter 3

Keith awoke to the sharp, numbing cold, its icy grip chilling him to his core. He reached for the Altean amulet around his neck, fumbling in the darkness in search of the small switch before turning it on. He took a rugged breath of the crisp air as he let it bathe the room in its topaz light.

A frosty sheen covered the floor and walls, the ice sprawled out across every hard surface. Crystalline structures had began to grow as stalactites and stalagmites, their strange and rapid geometric formation alluding the icy shapes being alien in origin. At least that’s what Keith assumed, for he had neither seen nor heard of anything of the sort back on Earth.

Keith shifted from where he lie, reclaiming his numb arm from under Lance's unmoving body. He looked over to the other boy. He looked so calm, so serene and relaxed lying there sleeping peacefully- Keith almost felt bad waking him. Almost.

"Lance." he said, gently shaking the blue paladin in an attempt to rose him.  
"Mmhm vete Hermilooo- cinco minutos más..." said Lance sleepily, pulling more of the soft blue blanket toward himself. Keith sighed irritably, shaking him harder this time.  
"Lance!" This seemed to work at first, waking Lance briefly only to have him roll over and bury his face in a pillow.   
"No le digas a mamá. Estaré allí volando." mumbled Lance, his voice obscured by the pillow.   
"For fucks sake Lance just get up." said Keith, his patience wearing thin. 

This caused Lance to pause, rolling back over. He blinked few times, looking at Keith, quickly realising he was not at home and embarrassedly retreating under a blanket. "Piss off, Keith."  
"Firstly, rude. Secondly, the castles frozen." said Keith flatly.  
"Wait what?" said Lance, emerging from the blanket to look around the room as he groggily wiped the sleep out of his eyes.

The icicles twinkled from the amulets glow like delicate gems hung from the ceiling. Lance looked around the room, his expression puzzled as he tried to figure out what had occurred during their nap.  
"I knew it was cold but I didn't think it was this fucking cold." said Lance, scowling at the ice that coated every inch of the room. "So what now?"  
"The others aren't going to be back for a while - we were only asleep for about thirty dobashes - and at this rate we'll freeze to death before they return." said Keith, growing more concerned as he assessed the situation.  
"Why don't we just call them so that Pidge and Hunk can come and fix the power so we don't turn into icicles?" suggested Lance.  
"How? Our suits are not only locked up but now frozen over and the power is also out." said a frustrated Keith.  
“Oh.” said Lance, before suddenly lighting up as an idea hit him. "We can use Pidge's stuff! I'm sure she'll have something we can use to contact them."  
"Pidge will burn us alive if we dare even consider touching her shit."  
"Considering that we're literally freezing to death, being burnt alive doesn't sound so bad right now." said Lance, stretching as he got up, his misty breaths billowing like clouds.  
"Fair point." mused Keith as he followed Lance out of the now frozen door, which they had thankfully left ajar.

They made the precarious walk through the icy hallways, dimly lit by nought but the amulet around Keith's neck, Lance merrily humming to himself as they walked. The humming ceased, however, as Keith spoke.  
"So who's Hermilo?" asked Keith curiously.  
"He's my little brother, well one of them. Wait- how do you know about Milo?" replied Lance.  
"You were mumbling to yourself when you woke up."  
"Oh." said Lance, unsurprised by this fact. "He's a great brother - he never snitches on me dodging chores or sleeping in so long as I play with him." he chuckled, "Unlike Edelira." he added, mock bitterness in his words.  
"Edelira?" repeated Keith, intrigued.  
"My shit bag of an older sister." complained Lance melodramatically. "She once threw a bowl of icy water on me when I wouldn't get up. I got Lira back eventually though. We had the best prank wars. Although Mamá accidentally got caught by a bucket and door prank one time- I'm still amazed we weren't killed on the spot." reminisced Lance, a smile on his face and his eyes lit up like star sapphires.

He froze, the smile draining from his face "I miss them, my family. Sometimes I wonder if they miss me too. What if I never see them again?" he mumbled half to himself, blinking away the beginnings of tears.

"I'm. I'm sure you will." Keith stammered, desperately searching for the right words to comfort Lance. "Once we defeat Zarkon we'll all get to go home and you'll see your family again."  
Seeing Keith's awkwardness Lance froze in realisation "Shit. I'm sorry I shouldn't have said- I forgot about you know. Your family. Fuck. I'm sorry that was a dick move, rubbing it in like that-" stuttered Lance apologetically as he sped up walking, ashamed by his faux pas.

"Lance." interjected Keith, causing him to slow. "Whilst it is a sore subject and all- you don't need to apologise. You love your family and I'm happy for you. I really am. Don't let my past bother you. Besides- I haven't given up searching yet, y'know." rambled Keith, his throat tight as if there were a heavy lump sitting in it.  
"S-sorry. Yeah." forced out Lance. He missed them all so much he could hardly bare it, the thought of never seeing them again was even worse - he hadn't even gotten to say a single good bye.  
"Yeah." said Keith, struggling to fill the silence. He fiddled with the sentimental blade on his belt out of habit, wondering of its origins and what it meant.

The duo halted outside Pidge's bedroom door. To their dismay, the door had mostly frozen over. Icy tendrils clung to the edges of the door as if a part of it. Furthermore, to make matters worse, even if they did manage to free the door, Pidge has most likely securely locked it with advanced encryption algorithms.  
"Shit, of course it's iced over and the door is locked." muttered Keith bitterly.  
"Well I suppose we could chip the ice off bit by bit with our weapons."  
"I guess that could work but what about the lock." pointed out Keith.

Lance pondered. Pidge's passwords were notoriously impossible to crack, at least not unless you were a master of obscure codes and had a supercomputer to hand. If he recalled correctly, she had referred to one of her more recent encryptions as  _ 'the mutant child of Gilbert Vernam and Enigma raised on a diet of only caesar salad and salt' _ \- whatever that meant.

"Wait." said Lance suddenly, as the simple realisation dawned on him. "It's not locked."  
"Of course it's fucking locked Lance! This is  _ Pidge _ we're talking about." said Keith as he watched Lance begin enthusiastically chipping away at the ice with his bare hands.  
"No, it  _ was _ locked, but that was before the power went out- all the electromagnetic locks in the castle are down. Hunk told me the other day that that's how our doors work or something." explained Lance as he realised that using his bare hands to break away the ice was not the best idea. Before his hands could lose all feeling to the numbing cold, he switched to his Bayard, carefully using it to blast away chunks of ice.  
"That... that actually makes sense." said Keith, reluctantly impressed as he too activated his Bayard.

After a few tiring minutes using his Bayard to blast and melt away parts of the ice and letting Keith sheer away the ice with his sword, Lance was glad to see that the door was finally free. He looked over to Keith, lingering for a second on the subtle grin that hung on his lips, before drifting back to the task at hand. 

Keith rammed his sword into the gap between door and wall, he then pushed on the handle, the blade acting as a makeshift lever.  
"Shit, help me out here Lance- it's a tough one."  
"Oh, sorry, didn't quite catch that Kogane. Did  _ you _ ask  _ me _ for help?" taunted Lance gleefully.  
"Just shut up and help me." grunted Keith, putting all of his effort into pushing the end of the red sword.  
"Fine, fine." said Lance as he made his way over to Keith, standing in front of him. He found somewhere to grip the swords handle and began pulling with all the might he could muster, as Keith pushed.

Suddenly, there was a loud screech as the door was yanked open by a crack, just enough space for a person to slither through. Keith sighed in relief, picking up his Bayard as Lance plopped to the floor, panting as he caught his breath.

"What's wrong Lance?" teased Keith. "Opening door too much for you?"  
Lance shook his head in defiance, his short, shallow breaths billowing like smoke in the chilly air. "It was a tough door! You said it yourself" he retaliated breathlessly.  
Keith smiled slightly, shaking his head as he held out his hand once again to Lance, who took it and let Keith hoist him up without a second thought.

Lance carefully slid through the door, weaving his long limbs carefully through the gap. Keith shortly following as they entered the pigsty that was Pidge's room. Whilst it was the same as the other paladins’ rooms architecturally, it was so unrecognisable it might as well have been a completely different room on another ship.

Heaps of computer parts were littered in ' _ organised _ ' piles and the walls were adorned with multitudes of paper and post it notes; functions and graph sketches; formulas and pseudo-code. Curious contraptions were strewn out across every surface and much like the rest of the castle, a layer of shimmering ice covered every inch of the room- even the messy bed had the unusual ice growing on it like isometric crystals.

"What even is half of this junk." said Lance as he examined a small spider like robot hooked up to a green computer.  
"I don't know but we'd better get searching." said Keith. Lance began brushing off the layers of cuboidal ice as he searched a hoard of devices. He felt a sharp twinge of guilt in his chest at how he was going through his friend's private belongings like this. She wouldn't mind given the circumstances though? Would she?  
_ "Yeah, she's going to kill us." _ sighed Lance to himself, acceptingly.

A strange device caught his eyes, it appeared to be a mishmash of various spare parts. After retrieving it from Pidge's desk, he was able to to make out some alien headphones and a Galran visor. Upon closer inspection, there appeared to be a small mic and a Altean holo-projector.  
"Hey! What about this?" said Lance, waving the alien looking head-set in the air. Keith walked over, looking at the item skeptically as Lance passed it to him.

Slipping it onto his head, Keith flipped up the visor and activated the holo-projector and outer speakers, deactivating the headphone speakers in the process so Lance could see and listen too. Fortunately, it appeared to be undamaged by the frost as he booted up its system. Even more fortuitously, the device appeared to be rather new and hence didn't possess any of Pidge's famous security measures yet.

However, their luck ran dry as the program abruptly ended when Keith attempted to scan for signals, the corrupted sound of several error logs filling the room.  
"Quiznak!" yelled Lance frustratedly. "I really thought that was going to work as well."  
"Well we could try one of the other devices." suggested Keith as he removed and folded up the contraption. He then placed it in the pouch on his waist, as was his habit to do so with potentially useful things.  
"This seems to be the only communicator. The rest is just robots and cyphers" said Lance glumly. 

Silence washed over the room, allowing Lance to feel his own thoughts in the stillness. In the back of his mind he felt a warm but nagging presence in the back of his  mind, a soft vibe that frustratedly pushed to be noticed.

Lance's eyes suddenly widened for a second, before his stark expression melted into one of muffled giggles.  
"What is it?" said Keith, perplexed.  
"Blue." he said, feeling the warm presence purr in the back of his thoughts at the mention of her name.  
"What?"  
"My lion. We have lions. Jesus fuck, how did we forget that we literally have giant robotic lions." laughed Lance, too entertained by the hilarity of the situation to be mad.  
"Oh my fucking god." said Keith bluntly, despite the amusement that painted his expression.


	4. Chapter 4

"We should probably start heading to Blue before we get hypothermia." said Lance once he had stopped snickering.   
"Yeah." agreed Keith as they slipped out of Pidge's room. "The blue lion's hangar isn't too far from here right?"  
"Mmhm." confirmed Lance, barely listening as he fell into step being Keith. He quickly ducked, out of vision as he scooped up some frost and roughly compacted it in his hands.

**THWACK**

"THat wAS ICE YOU ASS!" yelled Keith as Lance's 'snowball' hit him square in the back. Lance snickered, swiftly preparing another frost-ball.

Abruptly, Lance yelped as his shoulder was buffeted by a frost-ball, his own throw missing its intended target as a result. He brushed off his hands, and half heartedly scowled at Keith.  
"Nice aim." taunted Keith, the hand on his hip adding to his air of confidence.  
"That's just because you hit me!" whined Lance.  
"Sure it is."  
"What’s that supposed to mean!" said Lance, his tone exasperated.

"Either way we should keep walking" said Keith, as he turned around and began moving again. Before he could even walk two steps he was interrupted by the sudden presence of Lance, gliding by on the icy floor.  
"Why walk when you can slide?" said Lance smoothly as he drifted past Keith.  
"Because I'd rather not slip over."  
"Scared of a little ice, _ are we _ ?” said Lance playfully, kicking off the ground to slide back around again past Keith.  
"What? Of fucking course not-"  
"It." said Lance sarcastically, tapping him on the shoulder before skidding away on the ice hurriedly.  
"You little- did you just  _ it _ me? What are you? 6?" said Keith, attempting to quell his competitiveness as Lance slipped away.

Needless to say, his attempt failed as he dashed towards Lance, stumbling on the ice as he tried to slide. Lance looked back, ready to laugh at Keith, only to be surprised by how close he was.  
_ "Crap -I forgot how fast he is." _ thought a mildly alarmed Lance, skating away as fast as he could.

"It, you little shit."

Not fast enough though, as a familiar hand briefly grabbed his shoulder, using it to propel himself forward. Lance gasped in mock horror, pushing off of one of the pillars on the castle's walls in an attempt to catch up.

He accelerated as he began to perfect his technique, pushing off the ice with swift movements as he hunted down Keith. He grinned, getting faster and faster, nearing Keith rapidly. Keith glanced over his shoulder, a brief moment of panic sweeping over his face when he saw Lance closing in on him. This panic intensified as he realised Lance showed no intent of slowing, let alone stopping.

"It-"  **THUD**

As Lance reached out to tag Keith, he slammed into the latter, sending them both tumbling across the icy floor. There was a harsh thump as they drifted into the wall, piled on top of each other.

Keith attempted to rise, only to slump to the floor, pinned down by the weight of Lance's unmoving body.  
"Lance?" he shook him. "Lance!?" he shook him harder this time, his voice tense as received no response. He carefully moved Lance off of him and to the side, holding him gingerly as he tried to rose him, fearful that he might be injured.

"PSYCHE" bellowed Lance, causing Keith to visibly jump as he sat up and began cackling hysterically.  
"YOU ASSHOLE."  
"I can't believe you actually fell for that." said Lance through laughs.  
"I WAS ACTUALLY WORRi-" Keith cut himself off, albeit too late, his face turning red.   
"Also is it just me or is the whole you cradling me in your arms thing becoming a habit?" said Lance, his attempt at a jibe unfortunately more effective on himself however, as he too turned a subtle red. 

"Whatever." dismissed Keith, only to slip over as he attempted to stand up.  
"Nice one Keith." snickered Lance, cautiously getting up and proceeding to offer to help Keith up too with a simple gesture of his hand.

Keith accepted the help, regaining his footing and flicking the frost out of his hair in a way that caught Lance's eye.  
"The hangars just over there." motioned Lance, Keith's gaze shifting to the large door that marked its entrance.

"Fuck." remarked Lance upon focusing his vision on the door. Copious amounts of the strange ice blocked it, forming tall isometric structures.  
"Well shit. What now?" said Keith, dismayed. There was simply too much of the ice to break away like they had done with Pidge's door.  
"I- I don't know." said Lance.   
_ "Shit sHIT SHIT. How are we going to contact the others now?" _ he panicked, hopelessly searching for a solution to their dire situation.

Just as he was about to give up, the familiar steady warmth of Blue's quintessence flooded his mind. The soft sense stronger now that they were nearer. He felt her gentle ideas and abstract notions drip into his thoughts like clear dew. Despite the exchange lacking in coherent words, Lance understood her intention as if it were his own, simple and calm as the ocean's depths.

"You ok there?"

Keith's voice broke Lance's peaceful immersion, dragging him back to the reality of the situation.  
"Yeah, sorry, Blue was speaking to me." he explained steadily, Blue's calm aura having rubbed off on him.  
"Any good news?"  
"You'll see." smiled Lance knowingly, as Keith stared at him in blunt confusion.

Abruptly, there was a hum from Keith's pouch as Pidge's headset turned itself on.  
"What-" started Keith as he haphazardly took it out. He soon understood what Lance had meant, as he saw the device emitting a blue hue characteristic of Lance's lion.  
"She said she can relay her comms signal through that headset to bypass the scanning errors or something." explained Lance vaguely as Keith placed the device on his head.

As the device booted up, glowing and whirring, a hologram lit up the room in front of the two boys with its soft green glow. Keith scrolled through the operating system with a flick of his eyes, using his thoughts to browse the various detected signals listed on the screen.  
"Woah, how are you doing that?" marvelled Lance.  
"I don't know. Pidge is making some pretty high tech stuff here." said Keith honestly, impressed by the complexity of the device - to believe it was just a prototype.  
"What about one of those?" said Lance, leaning forward as he pointed towards four similar signals from Blue's scan grouped together on the interface. "That could be Allura and the others' suits."  
"Nicely spotted Lance, seems like it's at least worth a shot." said Keith as he selected all four signals, in the hope that at least one of them would pick up.

To their surprise not just one but all of the others answered the call almost immediately - excluding Coran as it appeared he had no device to contact.  
"Who is this-" started Shiro as the visuals crackled into view. "Keith?! -Lance? What-"  
"Are you guys ok?" said Hunk worriedly, as if he could sense something was wrong.  
"What's going on- is that my prototype? DID YOU TWO SHITS BREAK INTO MY ROOM" yelled Pidge angrily into her receiver.  
"We're sorry Pidge it was urgent!" said Lance, leaning in towards Keith in order to use the microphone.  
"Paladins, please calm yourselves." said Allura, her commanding voice halting all conversation. "Lance, Keith, what is going on? Is there a problem?"  
"Well yes, actually, princess Allura." said Keith.  
"There was a monster which broke some cable and caused a power cut and now there's ice everywhere and we're freezing to death!" said Lance hurriedly, cutting Keith off.  
Knowing they would be curious, Keith adjusted the headset to give the other paladins a better view of the hallway, holding up his amulet to help illuminate it.

"Oh! Gaioksian glass-ice!" said Coran enthusiastically as he spoke to them via Hunks receiver. "I haven't seen it freeze a ship over in many decathebes. It spreads and freezes things incredibly quickly; it's quite the impressive substance."  
"Gaiaksioanian what now?" said Lance, tripping up over the syllables.  
"Gaioksian glass-ice. It originates from this very exoplanet." corrected Coran.  
"We'll be there was soon as possible." said Allura, somehow calm and composed despite the severity of the situation.  
"It'll take us about thirty-six dobashes by my calculations. Also if any of my things are damaged-" said Pidge threateningly before she was cut off by Hunk.  
"Just  _ chill  _ guys you'll be fine.” said Hunk, smirking at his own pun as everyone collectively groaned.  
"Try and keep warm until we get to you, we don't want you getting hypothermia. Also make sure your extremities don't get too cold or you'll risk frostbite." warned Shiro, his voice caring as he instructed them.  
"Will do." chimed in Lance as the call halted, the holographic screen disappearing as Keith yanked off the headset and placed it back in his pouch.

Sighing with relief, Keith looked over to Lance as he spoke.  
"You heard Shiro, we need to stay warm. Which means moving around and lots of blankets." said Lance enthusiastically as he began strolling back down the towering hallway.

\----

"Thank fuck you're too lazy to shut the door or this one would be frozen over too by now." murmured Lance.  
"I heard that." said Keith as he entered Lance's room, careful not to slip, Lance sliding along behind him.

Once inside, Lance gleefully smiled as he shook the frost off of his blanket and wore it like a cape, the blue pigment complimenting his soft brown hair. How he remained so readily positive in such a situation amazed Keith. Yet what amazed him more was how infectious his positivity was, his joyful grin threatening to spread to Keith. He caved in, letting himself smile as Lance theatrically turned around with a flick of his 'cape' before slipping on the ice and stubbing his toe.  
"Ow fuCk."  
"You beautiful idiot." mumbled Keith to himself, smiling affectionately.  
"Did you say something?" asked Lance genuinely, dropping the blanket as he grabbed his foot in pain. Keith turned crimson, realising he has accidentally spoken his thoughts aloud as he shook his head in panicked denial.

The cold was piercing, their bodies shivering as they proceeded to collect the spare blankets from one of the draws. Unceremoniously dumping them all on the bed, Lance began shuffling them around into a more comfortable composition before sitting down. Keith removed the amulet that had been their light source, hanging it on an outcrop above the bed so it could lighten the room with its soft aqua glow.  
"Jesus fuck it's cold." cursed a shivering Keith as he settled down next to Lance in the nest of blankets, his back resting on one of the pillows leant against the wall.

"Quit hogging the blanket." complained Keith after barely a minute, tugging the biggest blanket towards himself.  
"There's more than one blanket!" said Lance, reaching over to his left to yank the blanket back.

Without warning there was a hand on his, restricting his movement. He looked up, his eyes meeting Keith's as he attempted to pull his hand back in a flustered fashion.  
"Wha-"  
"You're hurt." said Keith calmly, narrowing his eyes at the cut on the back of Lance's hand, snaking down to his wrist, its edges dark with clots.  
"Oh yeah. I think I caught it on something when we fell over."said Lance. "Maybe it was the weird ice or your knife or something."  
Keith muttered something about not noticing sooner under his breath, letting Lance's hand go and reaching across to rummage a draw by the bed.  
"What are you doing?" asked Lance, his curiosity roused by Keith's strange behaviour.  
"Just hold still." ordered Keith, his face burning as he grabbed Lance's right hand once more.

Cautiously, he began to use the bandage he had retrieved to wrap Lance's hand. Lance watched as Keith delicately and carefully bound his wound, his cheeks reddening from embarrassment at Keith's sudden tenderness. Unsure of what to do, he let his eyes wander to Keith's face. His eyes were focused, sharp yet gentle and his face framed by his dark hair-  _ "Ok he's right. I like the mullet. God damn it." _ Lance admitted to himself reluctantly.

"Sorry I didn't notice sooner." said Keith as he finished tying the bandage around Lance's hand and wrist.  
"No no, don't worry- Thank you, really. You didn't need to-" stammered Lance as he blushed furiously, caught off guard by the way the aquamarine glow of the hanging amulet lit up and complemented Keith's features.

In a moment of panic he retreated under a blanket, pulling it up to conceal his crimson cheeks. Part of him wanted to confess his feelings, but another part feared the pain of rejection. There was no way he could tell him, yet keeping such a secret would prove impossible and painful in the long run.

"Lance?"  
He jumped upon hearing his name, scrambling up out from under the blanket to meet Keith's gaze.  
"Are you ok?" Keith asked innocently.  
"Yeah, I'm doing great. Just trying to get my beauty sleep." lied Lance obviously, awkwardly smiling through gritted teeth.

Keith sighed and leaned forward, his arms reaching around Lance in a comforting hug. Lance froze, overwhelmed by Keith's uncharacteristic action. After a few seconds, he returned the hug gingerly, as if afraid of shattering the moment. To his surprise, Keith tightened his arms around Lance, who in turn rested his head on Keith's shoulder.

It ended as quickly as it had occurred. Lance felt the cold air hit him once more as Keith sat back. He quickly realised how much he had needed a hug- and how despite his social ineptness, Keith was perceptive enough to have realised this too.

Keith sat next to him on the bed, his eyes on Lance and the scene lit up by the steady blue light of the Altean necklace. He had Keith's attention, they were alone and were on good terms. He had made up his mind.

It was now or never.

"Erm Keith I-" he paused, Keith perking up to listen as a crimson Lance spoke. __ "Just say it you idiot or you'll regret it."  
"What?" hummed Keith, attentive to Lance’s words.  
"I- I, err- I like you." blurted out Lance, all of his carefully perfected flirting skills and techniques abandoning him in this one crucial moment. In desperate embarrassment he began to ramble, "I mean like, I like like you, like I guess I kinda have for a while but I just realised it and-"

To his surprise, Lance was abruptly cut off by Keith's lips making contact with his own. Rendered static from shock he sat with his eyes open as Keith moved back.  
"Sorry, I erm, fuck." stuttered Keith, assuming he had misread the situation upon noticing Lance's startled state.

Shaking himself free from his daze Lance hurriedly replied. "So, does that mean- you like me back?" said Lance, his mind going into overdrive. When Keith nodded in response his brain officially went into meltdown, his face scarlet to match.   


Before his mind could self destruct anymore, Lance was cut off by a second kiss, this one softer. He allowed himself to relax this time, closing his eyes and leaning into it, following Keith's lead. He felt Keith's hands move to his shoulders, pushing him into the wall as they briefly gasped for air before resuming kissing. His heart pounded in his chest as he felt Keith's rough lips upon his own. He allowed his hands to move, one coming to rest on Keith's back and the other buried amongst his hair on his neck. The kisses becoming more rapid and passionate, Keith's hands moved to Lance’s back as he held him close.

Eventually they moved apart a little, both hopelessly flustered as they maintained eye contact.  
Lance's composure returned to him along with his flirtatious confidence as he winked and said "I didn't know you were a good kisser."  
Upon hearing this, Keith somehow managed to blush even more. He then moved to lay in Lance's arms, his actions causing Lance to once again lose his fragile composure. Lance rested his arm around Keith, looking away in a futile attempt to hide his abashed demeanour.

Suddenly, there was a clang emanating from the corridor, followed by the pitter patter of hurried footsteps. Like lightning, the duo scurried to opposite ends of the bed, taking whatever blanket they could with them as the others burst in.  
"Are you ok?" came the worried voice of Shiro, followed by the terrifying threats of Pidge as she scurried into the room.  
“Don't ever touch my shit again or I'll skin you both alive and-”  
"Pidge, there is no need for such-" started the calm voice of Allura as she, Hunk and Coran entered the room.  
"They could have just used their suits to contact us!" she yelled frustratedly.  
"But they were locked up!" retorted Keith.  
"Mmm." mused Pidge. "Fine, I guess I'll let your heads this time. But never again. You hear me?" she said as she motioned a finger across her throat menacingly.  
"Anyways, are you guys ok?" chipped in Hunk.  
"Yeah." "Mmhmm." replied Keith and Lance in unison. They smiled gleefully at each other, causing Hunk to narrow his eyes in observant suspicion.

After what seemed like a full length interrogation, the two paladins were left standing with Hunk. The others had gone to the control room to try and evaporate the Gaioksian glass-ice, as letting it melt would cause water damage to the castle. As for the monster's remains, they had elected to deal with that later. Finally, the task of fixing the damage to the wire has been left to Hunk, Pidge and Coran; the latter two having gone off ahead.

"Sooo..." started Hunk merrily.  
"No." said Lance.  
"I haven't even started saying anything though!"  
"Whatever you're thinking: no." repeated Lance.  
“Soo…” started Hunk again, ignoring Lance's protests. "Did something happen?" he smirked.  
Lance groaned and Keith rolled his eyes.  
"Oh ok. You don't need to tell me now- you can tell me when it’s official." he said casually, leaving the duo in awe at his deductions as he walked out of the room.  
"He knows. How does he know." whispered Keith urgently to Lance.  
"He just does- it's scary at first but you somewhat get used to it." explained Lance as he slipped his hand into Keith's, careful that Hunk couldn't see them holding hands as they happily followed him.


End file.
